One of the hottest categories of record auctions on eBay is Northern Soul 45 singles.
The term ‘Northern Soul’ was coined by journalist Dave Godin after visiting the Twisted Wheel Club around 1970 for his column in Blues and Soul magazine. It refers to music that was popular in the dance halls throughout Northern England in the late 1960s and early 1970s.
During this period, there were many small independent American record labels that specialized in the work of local Rhythm & Blues and Soul artists. Faced with competition from recording giants such as MoTown, and others, they weren’t able to get the radio air-time necessary to sell a lot of copies and many of the labels, artists, and songs remained unknown it the States.
Frequently, through exporters, these unwanted 45s found their way to England and into some of the all-night dance halls popular in Northern England where many of the artists, and their music, became popular.
They remain popular with collectors today, with many of the 45s of these still relatively unknown artists selling for hundreds and even thousands of dollars on eBay. Below is a list of many of the record labels that early Northern Soul appeared on. While not everything these labels released is Northern Soul, the list will provide interested readers with a starting point of what labels to look for.
| ABC | Atlantic |
| ATCO | Backbeat |
| Bell | Cadet |
| Cameo Parkway | Checker |
| Chess | Golden World |
| Gordy | Laurie |
| Mala | Mirworld |
| Modern | Musicor |
| New Voice | OKEH |
| Phillips | Pye |
| RIC | Roulette |
| Smash | Soul |
| Stateside | Stax |
| SUE | Tamla |
| TIC | VIP |
If you would like to learn more about Northern Soul, here are a couple links to sites to get you started:
Photograph by Image Editor.
Popularity: 18% [?]
February 9th, 2008 at 11:14 am
Gary, Thanks to following your insights for as long as I have I’m already on the look out for the elusive “Northern Soul” item but I’m still on the hunt!! Thanks for the contiued “heads up” to keep them in our current attention!!
PS…I saw your $300+ treasure CONGRATS!!
February 9th, 2008 at 11:25 am
Gary,
FYI — The 2nd link “Northern Soul Music” won’t open or even load.
http://www.Northern-Soul-Music.org.uk is the web address that displays, is that correct?
Please double check for us!
Thanks for your contined insights and help with our success…much appreciated, MUCH!!!
February 9th, 2008 at 11:29 am
Gary,
As the Gilda Radner character from the early SNL’s “Not Ready For Prime Time Players” used to say after one of her off topic rants, “NEVER MIND!!!”
The page finally loaded after I typed the address into my own browser’s address bar.
Sorry for the false alarm!
February 9th, 2008 at 2:21 pm
Stephen,
The link works, but the page is usually pretty slow loading. Although many of these ‘fan sites’ are filled with useful information, they are often hosted on sites similar to AOL and they aren’t the fastest sites in the world.
Long time no see. Welcome back.
Gary H.
February 9th, 2008 at 8:33 pm
Gray,
Great to be back, I took December & January off to recharge my battery…I needed a break from eBay badly!!
How funny that you’re discussing “Northern Soul” music, as I have about 20+ 45 singles I was planning to list this week and most, if not all are R&B/Soul from that era, many are record labels from your lits of 30.
It always seems we’re thinking on a similar wave length